2 village weeks down and only 2 more weeks until home

Mambo marafiki!

I'm back in town after my second week in the village. This past week we were in a village called Njoro in which people from the Meru tribe live. Our accomodations were very nice: a flush/squat toilet, a guesthouse, and delicious Tanzanian meals (including chapati, my favorite). There was also an adorable dog at our hosts' house, so I got my dose of puppy-love. The only down side was that our guesthouse did not have beds, so we slept on a cement floor for the week. Thank god for my sleeping mat!

I taught one Secondary School class with my Tanzanian counterpart, Emmanuel. The kids were very involved. Although they definitely shied away from answering and asking questions when their teacher came into the room to observe. At the end of the week, one of the most active students asked if he could stay involved with Global Service Corps and teach others the information he learned from the weeklong training. It was so awesome to see the genuine interest of the students in HIV prevention. It felt like a great success!

Although teaching was great, we did have a lot of downtime this week in the village. Since I was only teaching one, hour and a half long class, there was definitely a lot of unplanned time. We occupied ourselves by going for walks to the main road, and even going to the nearby Tengeru market. I bought a Maasai blanket and some kangas - cloths that Tanzanian women wear. We also strolled through the used-clothes market and were shouted at by many. The locals were surprised to see so many mzungus in a non-touristy location. I also spent one afternoon helping (mostly watching) build a chicken coop. I sawed off one piece of wood and hammered in a nail! Pretty successful I would say.

This weekend is pretty low-key. I am planning on doing a lot of shopping at my favorite craft market in town. Hopefully I'll get some good deals considering how dreadful I am at bargaining.

Next week, we are going back to the same village to do more trainings. Supposedly I will be teaching at an all-girls' Secondary School, but plans tend to change on short notice here. We are also doing more chicken vaccinations next week. So another week of early morning wake up!

That's all for now! Kwaherini!